What tranny for a 318?

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pachink13

pachink13

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I'm rebuilding a 74 dart sport, and I don't know entirely what tranny to use. The car still has the 904 in it, but I've been told to use a 727 by a classic car builder friend.. So the key objective is: everyday driver with some loud, impressive fun behind the pedal. Haha

But ive been told buy a fellow 318 a-body (73 duster) owner/friend, that the 904 is "burly", and that he lit up the town no prob, pitchin it sideways, burnin out, etc. and he indirectly made the point that the 727 is overkill/too burly for a 318. granted his motor was completely stock, with only exhaust, with maybe a 3:75/4:10 or so rear end. Witch is also what I want for my rear end. Posi of course.

Mine is freshly balanced, rebuilt, has an edlebrock wiend manifold, 4 barrel carb, true-er timing chain, after market edlebrock headers (nothin special), but connected to Flowmaster exhaust.. Advice? Experienced words of wisdom from you guys? lol
 
Unless you're runnin 600+hp 'er somthin a 904 is just fine.
 
904 with good internals, better clutches, heavy duty band strut, full manual valve body with low band apply(optional, not mandatory) and a lower gear set. Seen quite a few 904's configured this way backing 318, and 360's in the low 11's.
 
Thanks guys. Yeah I wanna get the most out of my 318 without it having to turn a beefy 727.

Also What ratio/size gears would you guys use for a rear end?

Keep in mine, mostly for around town, but also taking it down the 10 freeway every once in a while when I need to go down to palm springs area.
 
pachink13 said:
Thanks guys. Yeah I wanna get the most out of my 318 without it having to turn a beefy 727.

Also What ratio/size gears would you guys use for a rear end?

Keep in mine, mostly for around town, but also taking it down the 10 freeway every once in a while when I need to go down to palm springs area.
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What size tires are you running? Tire height makes a big difference in final drive ratio so the tire ht. needs to be considered when choosing gears. Also, how far is the drive to Palm Springs? If it's only a few miles a lower ratio would be ok. If it's a 100 mile jaunt taller gears would be better.
 
I have a built 727 behind my custom 318 1970 Duster. But mine's pushing about 430-440 HP though, but if you're going for a more mild build, then a buffed out 904 will serve you just fine.
 
Duster Fan said:
I have a built 727 behind my custom 318 1970 Duster. But mine's pushing about 430-440 HP though, but if you're going for a more mild build, then a buffed out 904 will serve you just fine.
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A built 904 would be fine for 450 hp, actually. They're used by a lot of drag racers running more horsepower than that because of the lower resistance of the 904 vs the 727.

Even with stock internals a 904 should have no issues with most 318's. For a driver I wouldn't mess with a full manual valve body, not really necessary and not exactly daily driver friendly. I'd throw in a good set of bands, a transgo TF2 shift kit, a slightly deeper pan for better cooling (and a drain plug!!!) and maybe a 5.0 kickdown lever. If you really want to make horsepower, upgrade the sprag and some of the other internals. Make sure to match the convertor to your cam.

As far as gears, it does depend on your rear tire height quite a bit. If you're going to be spending a lot of time of the freeway, I'd probably look at 3.23's or 3.55's, maybe 3.73 depending on the rear tire and how far you're driving on the freeway. I run 3.23's in my Challenger, which has a 318/904 and a 26" tall rear tire. No problems at all on the freeway, I can run it for hours at 75 mph. I don't think I'd go higher than 3.55's for what I do with mine though. Also keep in mind it will make a difference in your gas mileage too, my car had 2.76's in it from the factory :D, and the switch up to 3.23's was definitely noticeable, I lost a couple mpg's. But it was also a pretty significant change on acceleration too.
 
my 68 barracuda 318/904 has stock converter(for now) crt low gear set(2.74 1st, 1.54 2nd) 3.23 sure grip in a 8 3/4 with 245/60r15. Gets off the line good and doesn't scream while going 65 on the highway.
 
Ok, the longest would be from 29 palms, to Newport beach. 2-2:30 hour drive depending on the shitty 91 freeway traffic, you know, like weekender trip to the beach. I'm more than willing to pay for gas. Also palm springs about every other weekend cause the woman likes the mall. About an 1:30 drive at least.

I'd like best of both worlds. comfortable freeway travel. But I don't wanna give up any stoplight racing power, lol ya know? So maybe the 3:73 ratio? idk yet about my tires. I'll post the sizes I'm gonna use tomorrow.

Also would it be ideal to build the 904? Or maybe just a good reversed shift kit for the automatic so I can control my shifting at the lights.? heh.
 
I'm putting together a 72 Dart Swinger as a daily driver.
It's all new.
It's a 318 that should go abt 280hp and I've used a 904.
Rear tyres are 28" tall and I've got 3.89 ratio.
I wanted 3.7 but didn't have any 3.7 gears around.
Should be around 2950rpm @ 62 mph.
 
alright, time has come to build to the tranny while the motor is out and engine bay is being touched up..

It's an automatic torque flight 904.

what's a good;

column to floor conversion kit?

Shift kit? (somethin to make the shifting strong. Also, so I can manually go through the gears as I please) .. it will be my daily driver too, so somethin that won't drive me nuts when I'm just casually driving and not racing around town, but like I said, I need it to perform when I want to stand in it.. Something along the lines of "slap shifting".

Rebuild kit? (something to make it handle the 318 with a high stall torque converter.)

reverse shift kit? Necessary? I run prerunner baja trucks with reverse shift kits in them, and they prove very handy.. I would assume that pitching it sideways around turns would be similar in the technique of shifting.. (witch is what I'm gonna be doing, gotta show it off, the town has been awaiting this car's completion for years). ((and just for plain FUN!!))
 
72bluNblu said:
A built 904 would be fine for 450 hp, actually. They're used by a lot of drag racers running more horsepower than that because of the lower resistance of the 904 vs the 727.

Even with stock internals a 904 should have no issues with most 318's. For a driver I wouldn't mess with a full manual valve body, not really necessary and not exactly daily driver friendly. I'd throw in a good set of bands, a transgo TF2 shift kit, a slightly deeper pan for better cooling (and a drain plug!!!) and maybe a 5.0 kickdown lever. If you really want to make horsepower, upgrade the sprag and some of the other internals. Make sure to match the convertor to your cam.

As far as gears, it does depend on your rear tire height quite a bit. If you're going to be spending a lot of time of the freeway, I'd probably look at 3.23's or 3.55's, maybe 3.73 depending on the rear tire and how far you're driving on the freeway. I run 3.23's in my Challenger, which has a 318/904 and a 26" tall rear tire. No problems at all on the freeway, I can run it for hours at 75 mph. I don't think I'd go higher than 3.55's for what I do with mine though. Also keep in mind it will make a difference in your gas mileage too, my car had 2.76's in it from the factory :D, and the switch up to 3.23's was definitely noticeable, I lost a couple mpg's. But it was also a pretty significant change on acceleration too.
Click to expand...

904s are hughely underated. These are good strong trans which will handle a lot, especially with the proper parts. They are lighter and faster than the 727.
 
pachink13 said:
alright, time has come to build to the tranny while the motor is out and engine bay is being touched up..

It's an automatic torque flight 904.

what's a good;

column to floor conversion kit?

Shift kit? (somethin to make the shifting strong. Also, so I can manually go through the gears as I please) .. it will be my daily driver too, so somethin that won't drive me nuts when I'm just casually driving and not racing around town, but like I said, I need it to perform when I want to stand in it.. Something along the lines of "slap shifting".

Rebuild kit? (something to make it handle the 318 with a high stall torque converter.)

reverse shift kit? Necessary? I run prerunner baja trucks with reverse shift kits in them, and they prove very handy.. I would assume that pitching it sideways around turns would be similar in the technique of shifting.. (witch is what I'm gonna be doing, gotta show it off, the town has been awaiting this car's completion for years). ((and just for plain FUN!!))
Click to expand...

I have a B&M Quicksilver in my Cuda and like it a lot but there are a lot of other good shifters out there too. I prefer B&M over Hurst myself. Of course that's just the part to put the floor shift in. You'll have to remove all the old column shift parts. Some guys just take off the old column shifter (just held in by a roll pin) and leave the column as is. Others sap out the entire column to a floor shift column so it looks cleaner. That decision is yours.

A Trans-go TF-2 shift improver kit will do ya great. IMO it's the best shift improver kit you can get while keeping it automatic shift. Unlike some other kits, it always produces a nice crisp clean shift with no overlap. If your going to run a loose converter (anything over 2500 stall) you may need to block the accumulator. The TF-2 kit doesn't mention doing that but I've found loose converters somewhat cushion the shift and blocking the accumulator makes up for it.

There aren't a lot of rebuild kits that are 100% complete. Nearly every one is missing thrust washers or bushings or bands or all of those parts. My suggestion is to call either Chris Andrews at Andrews racing (303-660-0522), John Cope at Cope Racing trans (219-374-0100), or one if the guys at A&A trans. (317-831-3066) and tell what your doing and let them help so you get everything. btw: Chris and John are members of this board.

IMO a reverse valve body isn't necessary at all for a street car if you have a good shifter and they don't make a kit to convert your valve body to reverse shift pattern so the only way to do that is to swap out the entire valve body. Personally I wouldn't do it for what your doing but it's your choice.
 
Wow dude, fishy thanks! Pretty much sumed it up, I really appreciate the the helpful info! Btw the way my converter is about, I think it said 2500-3200 when purchased online.. I'll be definitely giving those guys a call for some help. this is my first build, and I'm not very knowledgable about the intricate stuff. Thanks again!
 
904 is strong like bull. One behind my stout 360. Listen to the old wizards they know whats up. :D Simple to rebuild, check it twice, leave for a day then come back and check it again before you put it back together..


Relax, take it slow and let the good times roll. --Stifler
 
I have a 74 car, I assume the tranny is original.. if it is, think that kit would work for my tranny? It's a column automatic.

The kit specifically said "60-71 only".
 
bernieca said:
904s are hughely underated. These are good strong trans which will handle a lot, especially with the proper parts. They are lighter and faster than the 727.
Click to expand...

How much lighter is the 904 ? Back in the 70's I blew 4 904 transmissions , 3 had kits and extra cooler on it , they just did not last . Put a 727 in and never had a problem again .
 
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